It’s a marriage of industry icons. In June, Walgreens finally made a long-awaited leap across the Atlantic to acquire British-based Alliance Boots, one of the world’s premier retailers of pharmaceuticals, health and beauty aids, and beauty care products.

The year 2012 is coming to an end, and it's been a big year for generic drugs. It's the year that the most lucrative drug of all time became commoditized. It's the year that Watson bought Actavis for $5.6 billion. And it's the year the FDA released draft guidance for biosimilars regulations. All of these events speak to some of the most important trends in the world of generics — trends that are often interrelated.

The battle for Schiff Nutrition is on. Reckitt Benckiser on Friday commenced its previously announced tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Schiff Nutrition — a provider of branded vitamins, nutrition supplements and nutrition bars in the United States and elsewhere — for $42 per share in cash, or approximately $1.4 billion.

Consumer products company Spectrum Brands Holdings has acquired a 56% interest in Shaser Bioscience, a privately held developer of energy-based, aesthetic dermatological technology for home use devices, for $50 million in cash.

Watson Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday announced the sale of its Rugby over-the-counter business to the Harvard Drug Group — a distributor and provider of private-label OTCs and generic prescription products under the Major Pharmaceuticals brand — for approximately $117 million.

McKesson and PSS World Medical on Thursday announced that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement under which McKesson will acquire all outstanding shares of PSS World Medical for $29 per share in cash in a deal valued at $2.1 billion.

Through a $100,000 gift to the Fashion Institute of Technology, an endowed scholarship has been established by cosmetics executive Leslie Blodgett, creator of BareMinerals and executive chairman of Bare Escentuals.